Life Goes On
by Writin' Addict
Summary: Months after the end of the Reaper Wars, the members of Council races and the crew of the Normandy try to put together the pieces left in their wake. FemshepxKaiden pairing as well as JamesXOC. Rate M for langage, because well Jack.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Months after the end of the Reaper Wars, the members of Council races and the crew of the Normandy try to put together the pieces left in their wake.

A/n: Besides from the game discs, I don't own Mass Effect. If I did it would have ended differently. Ending AU but holding on to basic themes. Kaiden/Femshep and James/OC and canon appearances.

Prologue

The pain at assaulted her as she busted into conscience was unlike anything she ever felt. That included having a massive chuck of Reaper smash almost right on top of her and waking up during before Cerberus finished her full body overhaul. It was enough to make her grasp and wish she had died when the Crucible destroyed the Reaper.

The only good thing was that everything hurt, which meant everything was still there. Her disturbing visit with the Catalysis kept replay in her mind adding mental pain to its physician counterpart. Sheppard had no idea how long she was out. She tried moving her limbs trying to access the damage, but found that her left arm was pinned under some debris. Well, there went the hope of clawing her way out of this mess. She tried calming her mind and reaching out with her biotics but the only thing she could manage to lift was the ash that had settled around her.

It was hopeless. This was it. Her number had finally come up, for the second time and there was no hope that all the king's men would be able to bring her back from the dead. _Oh Kaiden, I'm sorry I can't make it back._ Still, her will to live wouldn't let her just lay there and die. Time seemed to draw out into forever as she lay trapped in unforgiving darkness leading her down a road of madness.

That's why she dismissed the hushed noises that were coming closer as her wild imaginings. She tried to lift the beam that had her arm pinned and while she made little progress it wasn't nearly enough to get her free. A primal scream ripped from her throat at the injustice of it all.

"Major, did you…?" A female voice drifted across the debris she was in. Followed almost instantly by the sound of not too distant banging and clanging.

"Get on the comm and let everyone know we have a fix on Sheppard." The sound of kaiden's voice brought out tears that Sheppard was sure she didn't have ten seconds ago.

"Sir, are you sure it's the Commander?"

"Who else would it fucking be?" Jack's bark shot back. "Seriously where did you find this dumb bitch?"

More clanging and banging as the Kaiden and Jack used their biotics to clear a path to Sheppard. The time that had been drawing out before speed quickly by as three pairs of boots came into view.

"Shit, she'd in bad shape." Kaiden knelt down by her side. "Sheppard, stay with me."

Sheppard got her first look at the third voice with her friends as the young woman in Alliance armor came to her other side waving her Omni-tool. "this isn't good. Vitals are steady, but very faint. The Commander needs more than Medi-gel. We don't have time to wait for evac, we have to move her now and hope for the best, sir"

If it had been any other time Sheppard would have liked this girl's straight forward assessment of the situation, but all she could do was think about was that there was no way that she was going to die now even the pain killer that Kaiden had given her numbed everything in her system. She struggled to stay awake as black flirted with the edges of her vision.

"It's ok I've got you." He didn't let go of the gripped he had on her hand until the drugs pulled her under. "Jack, get the beam."

"No problem." the flare of biotic lit the space around as Jack moved to lift the beam off the commander's arm.

"Wait." the warning came too late as the ceiling started to crash their way. The young woman brought up a partial barrier just in time to keep the weight of twisted metal from landing on them. The blue light from her biotics danced around her body as she struggled to keep it in place. Kaiden saw they didn't have much time before the young woman's barrier gave way under the weight she was trying to keep supported. He gathered Sheppard's broken body in his arms and ran with as much speed that he could manage.

Jack ran in front of the group throwing much of the debris they had climbed over on their way in out of the way. Behind him he heard the crash of the ceiling they had just been under falling to floor followed by more sounds of the structure collapsing around them. Brief concern for the woman they left behind was quickly forgotten as her footsteps echoed behind his.

In a cloud of dust and ash, the group stumbled into the daylight with their precious cargo in hand. Kaiden laid Sheppard's unconscious form down on the ground and started surveying her injuries in the light of day. It didn't look good, but she would pull through. She had to. Otherwise his world would fall apart again.

Just then the medi-vac shuttle landed outside the wreckage of the Citadel.


	2. Chapter 2

Life Goes On

Chapter One: Transitions

A/n: Please bear with me with the intro of my OC. Everything is not going to come out at one time.

CSCSCSCSCS

It had been months since the Reapers had been defeated. They all just dropped dead in the wake of a huge wave of red light. The eggheads were still trying to figure out how it worked, but they had more pressing concerns like how to get the damaged mass relay system back up and running so that what was left of the fleets could return in their home worlds.

With no where else to go at the moment, everyone was assisting with the clean up on Earth. The some of the ships that could enter the atmosphere landed on the surface to act as command posts, aid stations or just plain old emergency housing. However in areas like Vancouver where the fighting with the Reapers was over fairly quickly, as Alliance Forces were surprised, overwhelmed and forced to retreat, many of the outlaying building remained intact. This led to trade-offs being made in the living arrangements, where people were trading full sized bed of things like a hot shower everyday and vice versa.

Other ships spent their time hauling the massive corpses of the Reapers from Earth's surface and orbit into the sun. No one wanted to touch that tech to even think of salvage. Even if they did, no one wanted to go against Commander Sheppard's mandate.

All in all people for all races were coming together in the way at only major disasters could get them to. Everyone was lending a hand where they could.

For the crew of the Normandy, things were no different. Well, besides the fact at Sheppard was coming home today. After Kaiden and his team had pulled her from the wreckage of the Citadel, she had been hospitalized with her injuries for the past several months. For the first two she had laid in a coma, but there had always been someone at her bedside. The whole crew former and more recent had taken up shifts to watch over the sleeping Commander, none willing to let her wake up alone.

Still the march of time continued on as clean up efforts were in full swing. Thus Major Alenko found himself in the Normandy CIC waiting for a sit rep from the Alliance team of biotics who were assigned to aid with clearing the rumble. With everything at had happened this was not the way he pictured ending his career, managing work details. Part of him also wished for something, anything, as long as it meant a reprieve from the massive pile of date pads he was collecting.

As the hiss of the air lock broke the silence of the nearly empty ship, he looked up see someone he hadn't laid eyes on in months. The young biotic who helped him and Jack digging Sheppard from her would be tomb. A young woman from the biotic teams he trained and the one who quickly become he star student.

"Lieutenant Clark, what brings you here?" the slight smile graced his lips as his prize student closed the distance.

"Major Alenko," she stopped a respectable distance away and held out a date pad for him. "I have the report on the teams on the clearing squads, sir."

Kaiden wasn't surprised that she got right down to business. That was just her way, focused, driven and too much like himself. It was no wonder that he had taken her under his wing. He could still remember the relief when he saw her wandering in the FOB in London after the reapers ceased functioning. But it didn't compare to the relief of finding Sheppard alive. "Johnson usually brings me those reports."

"Yes, sir. Johnson was reassigned last week. Her doctors didn't want her to use her biotics so frequently in her first trimester." Damn, another one bites the dust.

"That's the third this month." He kept losing female soldiers to pregnancy. He started walking toward the bridge. He didn't have to look over his shoulder to know that she had fallen in a step behind him. Kaiden didn't have to look to know that her hands were clasped behind her back as she walked in measured 30 inch stride and looked every inch a polished soldier, so much so that she almost shined.

As they reached the cockpit, Kaiden called out to Joker. "Joker, see if you can get the OB over at Alliance General on the line. I need to know how many new pregnancies have been reported in the last month."

"Wow, I didn't know we're recruiting that young."

"You'll have to excuse Joker." Kaiden turned to Clark who had stopped at his side, but pitched his voice loud enough to the sarcastic pilot had to overhear. "He was born with his foot in is his mouth and it got worse with age."

"No problem sir, as long as I have permission to fire back."

That got a chuckle from the Major. "Granted."

" Great, now you're giving complete strangers permission to pick on me. Man, I can't wait for the Commander to get back." Joker made a big show of squirming in his seat. "I hate to say I'm chaffing under your command Alenko."

"Joker, this is Lieutenant Clark, a former student of mine."

A disembodied voice interrupted the banter before it could go any further. "Major Alenko, I have the information you requested if you don't wish to wait for Jeff to connect you to Alliance General."

"Go ahead, EDI."

"There have been 32 reported, 19 of which are Alliance personnel."

"Thank you, EDI."

"Sir, isn't it a little weird to say thanks to a VI?"

Joker jumped in before Kaiden could get a word out, spinning his chair around as he spoke. "EDI is a fully self aware AI, who has pulled our asses out of fire more than once. So you better watch your manners."

"After all the Geth deactivated, the top brass thought that the Crucible blast must have wiped out all synthetic life." Clark was puzzled at the AI, EDI, was still here.

"the energy released did in fact kill me. However, I was worried about that outcome so I placed a backup of myself on several drives in such a way that each piece was not large enough to classify as sentient. I then left instructions on how to resurrect me in a programming subroutine designed to deliver them to Jeff and only Jeff in the event of my demise."

"So you gave yourself a second chance, but why only let Joker receive the instructions?"

"Simple, I do not wish to exist in a world where Jeff does not also exist."

"It's a little crazy, I know, but EDI is the Normandy, and she loves her pilot, so to speak." Kaiden reassured Clark. "She's just one of the things on this ship at takes a little getting use too."

"There's more."

"Oh yeah. Like the fact that we have a turian and quarian living together."

A/n: There I have used my creative skills to save EDI. Take that Bioware. This chapter was starting to run long hopefully more soon.


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: A little feedback is always nice. Drop a review and let me know how I'm doing. Picking off where I left off.

Chapter 2

"Anything else?" Clark looked at Kaiden with no small measure of disbelief.

"Yeah, but I'll let you figure it out of yourself. That's what you're best at." Kaiden meant it as a compliment, but the young woman huffed.

"Yeah, that and throwing guys who can't watch their hands against walls." for the first time since she boarded, Kaiden saw a glimpse of the girl he met almost a year and half ago.

"Can't say that I had forgotten about that."

"Wait, you threw Kaiden against a wall for getting handsy. I gotta tell Sheppard about this one." Joker quipped from his chair.

"No, he put me on report for giving a classmate a tiny headache."

"A tiny headache that knocked him out for two hours." Kaiden tried to act disproving, but he had seen that the young man was transferred. He never was sure what happened to him after. With the report that Kaiden had added to his file, he doubted it was anywhere good.

"Some guys just can't take the hint that my ass is private property, no trespassing allowed." Clark changed from a joking tone back to the one said all business. "Sir, what's your concern with the pregnancy rates?"

"It's not really concern, just noticing a pattern and wondering why." Kaiden crossed arm out the Normandy's viewports.

"If I may offer a observation, Major?"

"Of course," he turned away from the cockpit, why aware that he was all but pacing. Sheppard was just getting release today and he couldn't wait until she came home. Even if there whispers that there would be no rest for her.

"The end of the world can make a person stop and think about they want in life, for most it involved kids. Now with the Reapers gone they're getting a jump on those wants before they chicken out." She finished before she could hear Joker murmur to EDI about the likely hood of Clark growing on him. Something in Clark's voice caused Kaiden to paused and look her in the eye.

"What about you? You getting ready to settle down and have babies?"

"No sir, I'm needed more with a rifle in my arms than a baby." Kaiden could see that it wasn't the baby thing that was causing whatever the vibe was that he was picking up. He decided to let it go for now. He started walked back to the elevator, planning on heading to the mess hall and coaxing Clark to eat. He didn't like how skinny she looked, a bad thing for a biotic. A glance her direction told him she had something else to say.

"Something on your mind?"

"Major, I'm concerned with the cruisers that were downed in orbit."

Kaiden hit the call for the elevator. "We're hauling the wrecks large enough to make it to impact away so there's shouldn't be any worries about one of them crashing to Earth."

"Actually, it's the ones that we're letting burn up that worry me." Clark read the 'how so' on his face. "When they burn up, I'm worried that the eezo from their drive cores is being released into the atmosphere."

"And exposing a lot of women to the eezo with every breath."

"Yes, sir. We've never been set up to deal such large amounts of biotic potential children before. That and our limited resources have me worried."

Kaiden couldn't see how no one had seen this before. Then that's was Clark's true gift, not her biotics, not that they weren't impressive. It was that she could see the big picture without getting lost in it. It caused him to pause and starting thinking about all the things that would be put into motion once Sheppard got and that someone like Clark would be a asset. It wasn't like they didn't have room on board, most of the crew had decided to moved off ship. "I'll get on the horn with Admiral Hackett and see about getting the asari on board. They may know a thing or two about this sort of thing."

The elevator door slid open and the major and lieutenant stepped inside. Clark wasn't phased by all the chatting on move. In fact, she liked it that way. There was a lot things going though her mind but for now it was just good to see her old CO again. The silence of the elevator wasn't uncomfortable as they both focused on the door in front of them. It was a unspoken rule, no talking in spaces that could be considered private. Between the one on one lessons he had given her during training and the interest Kaiden had taken in her personal life, the last thing either of them wanted was the suspsion of some sort of affair.

As the door opened again, Kaiden stepped and headed straight for the kitchen in the mess hall. "Come on, its lunch time. Let's get some food in you."

"That's alright sir. I'm fine." The looked the major shot her way as he grabbed three ration packs out of the cabinet and threw them in the heater said he thought otherwise. "No really, I'm fine."

Kaiden looked up at the ceiling as he spoke next. "EDI, is the lieutenant fine?" and locked eyes with her as the AI answered him.

"The scans I took while she was in decontamination show signs of malnutrition and exhaustion. As well as recent sexual activity."

"Thanks EDI, but I could have done without that last part."

"My apologies Major Alenko. I am not at 100%." the ding of the heater completing its cycle stopped the situation from becoming to awkward. He turned and split the three packs onto two plates and after adding a fork to each, pushed the second closer to the lieutenant.

She pulled the plate to the edge of the counter and onto her hand to take to the table in the mess with the air of a child caught in a lie. Kaiden rounded the counter with his own plate and sat opposite her before pushing his next point. "How you holding up lieutenant?"

"That's a loaded question if I ever heard one." she ate a few bites before she continued on. Kaiden waited knowing a little of what had happened and wanting her to answer truthfully. "I guess the short answer is everyone I ever cared about the in galaxy is dead, except for one." she looked up meaningfully from her plate and dead into his eyes. It was a message he got load and clear.

He cleared his throat and started to speak, but she cut him off. "It's not romantic, sir. It just that before hell started raining down on us, I kinda thought of you as my big brother of sorts. And until I saw you in London I thought you were dead."

"I can't imagine what it must have been like here on Earth, but I know how you feel about seeing someone came back from the dead." Kaiden fought against the memories of Horizon that pulled at him and stayed with Clark in the present.

"Commander Sheppard?"

"Yeah, Sheppard." a small part of his mind wondered at the fact that he after this time he still called her Sheppard. "Twice."

A silence stretched out again between them as they ate. Sometimes it was funny how so few words could say so much. Kaiden could now see what the vibe he had gotten earlier was. Clark had given up, at some point during the occupation of Earth she starting living only for the fight. It was something he understood not wanting to live on when if felt there was no one left to live it with. It was also a hard place to get back out of.

"Jess, you know I'm here for you now." He reached across the table and rested his hand on hers, breaking though two major boundaries between the two of them. He had never called her by a nickname before and they had never touched outside of training before. Clark tilted her head as a slow smile crept to her lips

"I know that now, Alenko." Clark still couldn't bring herself to call him by his first name. it was a nice moment between the two of them, the only thing missing was…

"Well, isn't this cute?" the turian appeared to have come from the main battery. Desprite the fact that that weren't doing anything wrong, Clark's reaction to jerk her hands off the table and into her lap.

Kaiden had long ago learned to just let things go with Garrus. Instead, he just introduced them. "Jess, this is General Garrus Valakerian of the Turian government. Garrus, this is Lieutenant Jessie Clark."

Clark stood and held her hand out to the turian. "It's an honor to meet you, sir"

"A lieutenant in the alliance military who actually demonstrates a respect for authority." Garrus spoke as he shook her hand. "I thought you were the last of your kind Alenko."

"We're endangered, not extinct." Kaiden stayed in his seat. "I was thinking about her to join the crew."

"While I'll admit she is nice to look at, I think we have enough beauties around here don't you think." Garrus let go of Clark's and sized her up and down. It was true, few people got past her looks. She used that to her advantage more than once. No one ever expected such a pretty little thing to pack enough biotic punch to knock a krogan on his ass without trying.

"I can assure you sir, that I'm not just a pretty face." Clark drew herself into a rigid posture with her hands behind at her back. Garrus did not look impressed as he crossed his arms and leaned back on one leg with a turian smirk on his face.

"Is that right?"

"I graduated with honors from the Alliance Ascension program after two years, joined the Alliance right after. I have received special forces biotic training, several commendations and have been considered for the N7 program. It may not be as exciting parading as Archangel shooting criminals on Omega, but there is no question about my skills, sir"

The snide remark about Garrus's alter ego got his full attention. He took a few steps forward trying to get the young lieutenant to back down. Letting the full force of his I-am-scary -turian voice come to bare with his next words. "Did Alenko tell you about that?"

She held her ground. "No sir, I was curios about the Normandy crew so I started looking into the public files. I noticed there was a gap in your service records from your second leave of absence from C-SEC and your appearance on the SR-2. I like to figure things like that out, so I started digging. Making allowances for travel and time needed to build a reputation, and given the fact that the reports of Archangel's death coincide with your return to the Normandy, you are a perfect fit for the moniker. Your reaction only confirms it, sir. Like I said my skills are above questioning." Clark had to tilt her head back to keep eye contact since Garrus was at least a foot taller than her. Since he first served on the Normandy he had learned a lot about humans. He also looked into the eyes of a few when he was trying to get things done back C-Sec.

While he could see many things going on in the eyes of this human, a fear was not one of them. "You know, I think we're going to get along just fine."

"Who going to get along fine?" The trio looked up to see Tali had come out of the Med-bay. Her appearance made Garrus relieve how close he was to Clark, and sent him into a fluster.

"I can explain."

"I sure hope so." Not even Clark missed the hint of laughter in the quarian's voice.

GVGVGVGV

A/n: This ran longer than I thought it would. I'm not where I wanted to be at the end of chapter 2 but hey you don't mess with the muses. Anywho, let me know how I'm doing.


	4. Chapter 4

A/n: Soldiering onward. I own nothing, nor do I claim to. Remember a little feedback goes a long way. Fair warning instead of using conversations to tell parts of this story, like how Kaiden got from the final push to pulling Sheppard out of the Citadel, I will be using flashbacks. They will be clearly marked.

Chapter 3

Lunch eased by with little more drama. Garrus hastily explained why he was in the personal space of a human and Clark was introduced to the quarian admiral. After which Clark and Kaiden finished their meal and started talking about her reassignment to the Normandy. At first Clark didn't want to leave her post within the reconstruction teams, where she felt she was doing some good. Until Kaiden pointed out that she would do more good on the ship than moving piles of rumble around, she wasn't budging on that front.

They were finally broken apart when specialist Traynor came down to deliver a batch of data reports. Kaiden jokingly outlined one of Clark's new duties as being his first line of defense against the Specialist as he, without looking at them, handed the data pads across the table. Clark didn't seem phased, but then there wasn't much that he had seen that could cause her to flitch. Even the first time he saw her after the Reaper War.

Flashback: London, Three Hours After Crucible Pulse

The first hints of dawn were starting to peak over the horizon making everything at had happen thru the night seem even more unreal. Kaiden couldn't believe that it was over. It had taken nearly three years but the war that had been set in motion on Eden Prime had finally ended. His heart was starting to ache with the knowledge that Sheppard wasn't here to see it with him.

He was riding back to the FOB in the back of makeshift transport that someone had thrown together now that rescue operations were in full swing. Looking out at the fallen reapers that dotted the landscape, he couldn't believe someone had managed to get things organized so quickly, especially since the command structure was in chaos. That wasn't surprising with so many dead or unaccounted for. In fact he had been surprise when the truck he currently sat in the back of crawled over a pile of rumble. It had been a blessed sight. He had been at Sheppard's side during the final push, even made it to the sprint to the beam.

After the blast from the beam had thrown him a good distance, the impact of landing had knocked him out. By the time he came to, everything was over. Sheppard had done it, but in the quiet Kaiden could hear faint moaning. He pulled himself together by sear willpower alone, pushing the thought of what happened to the woman he loved down into a place where he would deal with it later. He stumbled toward the sound and found Garrus half buried in the remains of the city. By the time that transport had shown he had half a dozen wounded soldiers including the turian. It was a blur that he wasn't sure he would ever sort out. Just a mess of slapping on Medigel and throwing chucks of debris out of the way to get to fallen soldiers.

The truck rolled right into the FOB since someone had moved the barricades out of the way. Before it came to a full stop, folks were swarming around the back waiting to move in. As the tailgate came down, the medic in charge was asking for the run down on the wounded in the back. Kaiden recited status and vitals without thinking, holding his arm close to his side to try to protect the ribs he was fairly sure that were broken. He leaned against the back corner of the vehicle as his vision swam a little and he shook his head in a effort to clear it.

For a long moment leaning against the back of that vehicle, he couldn't make sense of anything around him. He vaguely hear someone to 'get the turian on a shuttle, priory one,' and thought _shit Garrus must be worse that I thought_. The shadowy figures carried a stretcher away, other passed in front of him as the walking wounded filed to a aid station where minor cases were being treated. His head fell back against the armor behind him with a thud. The medic turned back to him and from the alarmed look on his face Kaiden had a pretty good idea of what he looked like.

He started to come back to himself as someone stepped to his side in a effort to help him keep his feet. The voice that spoke was welcome in this chaos. One of his students, Jessie Clark. "Gunny, I don't care how good they look. You need to scan everyone coming off the transports. Now that everything's calming down the adrenaline is wearing off and they're dropping like flies."

"Yes, ma'am." Kaiden noticed that while the sergeant listened to what she had to say she didn't have bark orders to get her way. She kept the support on his side as she lead him over to the aid station. Saying things like easy soldier and just a little further, which made Kaiden think she didn't know who he was. Still he kept his mouth shut and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. It wasn't until she eased him on down what use to be a support beam, that he finally spoke.

"Good to see you L-T." The shock was clear on her face.

"Major Alenko, man are you a sight for sore eyes." She knelt in front of him waving her omnitool as she checked his injuries. He waited for her to finish trying not to breathe too deep. "A few broken ribs, a slight concussion, and a head lac which is bleeding profusely. She moved to put some medigel to the cut he hadn't noticed was bleeding down his face. "Not the worse I've seen today. The minor blood loss combined with the concussion is probability why you almost past out on us." "

She looked like she had been a lot thru herself. Her armor was battered and scraped so badly that it was mostly metal alloy grey. And there were hollows in her checks and bags under her eyes. As far as Kaiden knew she had been on Earth for leave when the Reapers attacked, and the haunted look in her eyes told him she had seen a lot since then. The relief to fine one of his students alive and whole in this mess was near overwhelming.

"How are things here?"

"Well we're looking for survivors. They've set up a hospital north of here where the fighting was lightest and we're shipping out the cases we can on shuttles. And they're sending them right back with what personnel and supplies they can. Even so…" her eyes drifted over to area set aside where soldiers were identifying bodies and placing them into body bags.

Kaiden borrowed a line from Garrus. "There aren't a lot of flesh wounds when fighting reapers."

What little light had been in her eyes faded at his words, causing him to wonder how many people she had lost since this mess began. "Mostly we're just marking the locations of bodies and moving on to help those we can." She turned back to him and started popping the fasteners at held his armor in place. She then helped him out of the chest piece and gauntlets. "I'm gonna give you some IV fluids to help replace your blood volume then we'll get your ribs taped up."

Kaiden tried to suppress a chuckle at the silly thought that entered his head. Clark noticed and asked what was so funny. "Every Marine a rifleman, and every biotic a medic."

That got a laugh from the young woman, the first one in a long time. She kept moving, doing her work like he remembered she would. Quick and efficient. She was just finishing with the tape when a comms officer came up in give a report. "Ma'am we have reports that a piece of the Citadel is going to make landfall near here."

"Commander Sheppard was on the Citadel." The part of his mind that he buried to deal with the wounded earlier rear its head with renewed hope. He stood up saline bag in hand and took a testing breath. "I need a team to search for her."

"Sir, the odds that …"

Kaiden cut off Clark before she could finish. "Are thrown out the window when Sheppard's involved. If one person could pull thru this it would be Sheppard."

Clark looked him in the eye for a long moment debating what she should do. When she looked back tech that had given her the report. "Get on the horn and start asking around for volunteers for a search party, let them know who its for and get back to me." The tech hurried away and Clark looked back at the major. "You need to sit back down, by the time this bag is done we'll be able to move in a start looking. We can't do anything until then."

The wait proved to be to much for the major's exhausted body, and he nodded off waiting for Clark to get back to him. A slap on the arm woke him from his power nap. "Hey, major asshole, wake up."

He opened his eyes to the sight of the so called psychotic biotic hovering over him. "Nice to see you made it Jack. How are the kids?"

"Fine, the worst we got were a few nosebleeds. I heard you were heading out to find Sheppard so I got my ass over as soon as I could." Jack started to help him get suited back up. A gesture that from what he knew about her was more about saving time than his personal comfort. "The cheerleader over there said we're heading out soon and asked me to wake your fucking ass."

"Well Jack at least you're using my rank now instead of straight up calling me an asshole."

"Not really," Jack paused for effect and started walking to shuttle that would hopefully take them to Sheppard. Kaiden just knew she wouldn't have given up yet, she promised. "The major just refers to the degree of your assholiness."

Nice to see some things not even the end of the world could change. Anyway, it was a new day, a good time for a little hope.

End of Flashback

"Sir, if there's someplace quiet I can use, I can review these and get them back to before dinner." Clark stood up from the table in the mess. "I'm sure you have more important things to do than chat with me all day."

"You can use the lounge. No body should be using it this time of day."

"Thank you, sir." Clark gathered the data pads and disappeared in the direction he pointed. As the door slid closed Kaiden moved onto other matters.

Sheppard was due in any minute. She wouldn't let him bring her home from the hospital insisting that she wanted to do it on her own. Something he could understand considering how long she couldn't do hardly anything for herself. At first she had needed help just to get a drink of water. Well, now that Clark was busying herself with reports, there was nothing left to do but go back up the CIC and wait. And listen to Joker's jokes about wearing a hole in the plating.

He stepped off the elevator and started forward just as the airlock finished cycling. There she stood in all her glory the great Commander Jane Sheppard, savior of the Citadel, hero of the galaxy and the most amazing woman he had ever met. Before he knew it, he had her in his arms holding like he would never let her go. Kaiden knew that it wouldn't feel real until he had her back on the Normandy, like everything else was just a dream. So much had happened on this ship it was like it was the center of their universe. "Welcome home."

"Its good to be home." She pulled back to look him in the eye. "Even if its only for a little while."

"So they made the offer then?" It wasn't like they had been blindsided by this. It had been talked about since the leaders of the other races knew that Sheppard was going to pull thru. He had never doubted she would recover after Jack and Clark helped him find her.

"And they wouldn't take no for an answer." Sheppard reached down to pick up the small duffle she dropped when Kaiden embraced her. "They wouldn't even take I have no idea what I'm doing for an answer."

"The mighty Sheppard brow beaten into becoming a Councilor." Kaiden smiled at the thought and winced at the punch she landed on his arm.

"They took advantage of my weakened condition." She eased to his side and looped her arm around his waist. It was a little weird how it wasn't weird at all how they slipped into public displays of affection after hiding it for so long. It felt good beyond belief. But this was just the quiet before a very different storm. Still, neither cared as they headed to the loft.

JCJCJCJCJCJCJC

Lieutenant Jessie Clark was tired. The full stomach from dinner and lunch wasn't helping keep her awake. Nor was it helping with the migraine that was coming on. It wasn't bad yet, with any luck she would be back at the tiny private quarters she had been assigned before it got worse. And it was looking like a real possibility since she had finished with reports the major had given her earlier and well as some that had come in after that. The summaries were ready for him if she could only find him.

After searching the common areas of the ship she had seen earlier, she headed back to the cockpit to find Joker sitting on the floor investigating the wiring under the flight console.

"I'm telling you EDI, something is off with the controls."

"I find that highly unlikely, I have several diagnosis programs and found nothing amiss."

"And I'm telling you that the old girl isn't handling like she used to."

Clark could also swear she heard the ship make a very offended noise. Alenko was right this was going to take a lot of getting use to.

"Was there something I could help you with Lieutenant?" Clark got the feeling that EDI was ignoring her pilot.

"Yes, the major wanted these reports tonight, but I can't seem to find him anywhere." There was no mistaking the snort coming from the floor.

"Oh, you won't find him wandering around ship tonight." Clark shot him a puzzled look, before it dawned on her.

"Commander Sheppard came home." Clark held out the data pad. "If you could just give him this in the morning then."

"There is no need to leave the data pad, Lieutenant. I have already downloading the files and sent them to the major." The pleasant voice of EDI chimed in. "By the way, there is no need to come to the cockpit to speak with me. You can do so from any part of the ship."

"Thank you, EDI." Clark turned to leave the ship, but a snap of electrical short stopped her short. She turned back to see Joker sucking on a pair of fingers that had been burned. She decided to take pity on the poor man since he didn't even know the trouble yet. "I think she's mad you."

"Why would she be mad at me? I hadn't even done anything to the wiring yet."

"EDI, you are fully aware AI correct?"

"That's is correct and until the past few months, I even acquired a body that allowed me to interact more fully with the crew. It is currently under repair."

"And do you have something similar to emotion responses?"

"Yes, in laymen's terms I do."

"Now, Joker, I have never met a woman yet who didn't get offended when someone called them old." With that Clark left the pilot horrified on the floor, and headed to the broom closet she called home.

"EDI, you're not upset…"

"I am not speaking to you, Jeff."

A/n: These chapter just seem to take on a life on their own and get longer each time I sit down to write one. Thanks to everyone who is following this, I love even though I've never met you. Please, please, please review. It gives me life purpose.


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